Random Moments Aboard the Normandy
by makesometime
Summary: Running out of flirty conversational options only means one thing - write ficlets to fill in the gaps. Possibly rated a little high, please forgive my caution! FemShep/Kaidan, ME1, ME2 and DLCs, so spoilers for the latter two.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: It's been a very long time since I've written anything other than original fiction, but something about the Mass Effect characters keeps tugging at my muse. These are all named '"Random Moments of 'Lack of Flirtation' Frustration-Enduced Joy Aboard the Normandy " on my computer. I ended up exhausting the conversation points with Kaidan too quickly and took matters into my own hands.

I've got a couple more chapters, spreading into ME2, if people enjoy what I've written. If not then, well. No harm, no foul. 

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><p>It was the end of a very long day before Commander Shepard managed to make a visit to the commissary. She gathered herself a meal that Doctor Chakwas would frown upon and took a seat at an empty table.<p>

She spent the next few minutes pushing the little food she'd chosen around her plate, trying to make sense of the meaningless visions in her head... which was still throbbing, and had been for most of the evening despite her attempts to unwind with a visit to the gym and a rather too lengthy shower. She was loath to allow herself such luxuries after seeing the state of Feros, but she'd still smell like a giant plant monster if she hadn't.

She was left alone at her table by the rest of her crew, though the room did start to fill up significantly after her arrival. If the boss was eating, they could too.

She wasn't going to pretend she didn't know why they avoided sitting with her. They needed to find amusement where they could and there was little point in her trying to stop them. She just wished they'd whisper a little quieter, especially tonight.

She knew when he walked in, of course. The immediate hush followed by frantically over-casual conversation was a familiar sound to her ears. She didn't look for him, the palpable disappointment from all around her giving her a little too much amusement for her own good. Only when his shadow fell over her did she look up at him.

"Manage to get all of the Thorian out of your hair Commander?" Kaidan asked as he threw his tray down in the front of the chair opposite her.

Shepard smiled a little at this, but her retort was abandoned in favour of staring in disbelief at his plate of food. It was piled so high that some of it had tumbled onto the tray at the force of its landing on the table.

"Got enough food there Lieutenant?" She asked as he attacked the pile with gusto.

"Figured I better take a healthy portion." He responded, nodding at her own plate. "Someone has to eat around here."

She looked down at it herself, speared a vegetable and put it in her mouth with a _'happy now?_' scowl.

They ate in silence for a while, Shepard marvelling, not for the first time, at his ability to put so much food away in such a short amount of time.

"How's Liara?" He asked eventually, breaking their comfortable silence.

"Fine. Got the all clear from the good Doctor." She said. "We spoke soon after I saw you last, she explained a few things..."

Kaidan's eyebrow raised in invitation for her to continue, without the need to stop devouring his meal.

"Truth be told, she came on to me a little bit." She said, and found herself laughing for the first time in a long while as he gaped at her, before inhaling a piece of food that should have gone down the other way and wheezing his way through most of his drink. "Are you alright?" She asked eventually, an impish grin on her face.

"I'm not entirely sure that was necessary." He groused, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "You don't have to lie to get a reaction out of me."

"Who said I was lying?" Shepard said, leaning forward. "Is it so hard to believe?"

"No! No, of course not." Kaidan said hurriedly. "It's just she's..."

"Female? Come on Lieutenant, we're more enlightened than that by now aren't we?"

"Well, of course." He spluttered. "And I'd appreciate it if you'd stop trying to get a rise out of me."

Shepard allowed herself one last chuckle. "Sorry, that was unfair of me."

They lapsed into silence once more as Kaidan finished eating, and eventually the rest of the crew filed away when it was apparent there was little left to see for the evening.

"Can I get you a coffee?" He asked, breaking into her thoughts.

It was at this point in the evening that they usually parted ways, put the mission first and went to bed alone. Tonight she studied his face for a moment, devoid of the usual hopefulness that followed his question. He was too used to her saying no now, which was something she was going to have to work to put right.

Her day had been too long, she'd seen too many awful things. She refused to give the mission priority... for another half an hour and a coffee at least.

"I'd like that Lieutenant, thank you."


	2. Chapter 2

The Normandy was the finest ship in the fleet, no one argued with that fact. But whoever designed it had clearly had a lapse in concentration when they only put one kitting up room in. Males and females had separate locker rooms (not that that would stop much) but the expedition party still had to gather in the same room to set up weapons and armour before shipping out.

It didn't tend to be a problem in most cases. Shepard found herself with Ashley a lot and an extra female presence was more than enough backup if the situation got out of hand. But Ashley was running late today and Shepard wasn't about to put her own prep at risk to hunt the ship for her.

She strode right into the kit room without thinking, and found herself confronted with a half-naked lieutenant.

"Oh God." She said, half gasp, half laugh as he span around at the sound of her boots on the metal floor.

"Commander, sorry. You're earlier than I was expecting." He said, hastily pulling a vest over his head and then pulling the top half of his under-armour jumpsuit up after it. He attempted a sloppy attention, but Shepard waved him off.

"As you were Lieutenant." She chuckled, heading for her own locker.

"What, exactly?" He responded, hand as ready to pull the rest of his zip up as it was to pull it down.

The look on his face suggested to her that this wasn't an entirely unexpected situation for him to find himself in. She toyed with the idea of calling him on it, but in the end she just smirked. "Any other time and my answer might be different, but right now don't make me have to warn you against facetiousness."

"Understood Ma'am." He grinned, turning back to his own cache of weapons.

When Ashley did eventually arrive, she had an anticipation on her face that turned quickly to disappointment. It only took a moment for her military persona to kick back in and her face to fall back into alert disinterest though. Shepard looked at her curiously for several moments, hoping to force her hand. Her suspicions weren't to be confirmed, but she knew she was right none the less. Ashley had sisters, she was probably used to relationship gossip and matchmaking.

"You're late, Ash." She reprimanded. "I assume you have a good reason?"

"Well Ma'am, I intended to." Ashley said, walking to her own kit station.

"And what happened?"

Ashley smirked, eyes flicking to Kaidan for a moment just long enough to convince Shepard she was right. "I'm afraid I just don't know Ma'am."

Shepard fought back a chuckle. "Virmire's waiting Chief, so I won't follow this up now. I assume you'll at least have a good excuse if it happens again?"

"You bet." Ashley replied with a grin. Off Shepard's questioning eyebrow raise, she hurriedly added a "Ma'am."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews/alert subscriptions. Means the world! This is the last ME1 ficlet I have, the next two take place after Horizon so spoilers ahoy!

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><p>Shepard heaved the weight up from her shoulders, until her arms stood straight upright. <em>98.<em> She counted in her head. _Come on, two more._

She was preparing for her 99th press when a head appeared over the back of the bench, smiling down at her.

"You know, you should really have someone spotting you." Kaidan told her, just about stepping out of the way before she smacked him in the face with the bar of the weights.

"Didn't want to embarrass anyone." She ground out, bringing it down once more and pushing back it up with a huff of laughter. He sensed she was finished and helped her guide the weight back to its resting place, noticing for the first time the amount of weight on each end of the bar. His eyes widened, just for a second, long enough for her to feel a flash of pride at his impressed surprise.

"You wouldn't embarrass me." He offered.

She laughed, fetching a towel. "No, you do a good enough job of that yourself."

She threw the towel at him but his reflexes were quicker than she allowed and he caught the end before it had left her hand, using the resulting imbalance of her action to tug her towards him.

For the second time that day she fell against him and it took most of his self restraint not to take advantage of the situation before Joker could interrupt again.

She looked up at him when he closed his eyes and she knew she'd lost him again. They were still two days out from Ilos... she supposed there was still time. What was stopping him, really? It wasn't as if they hadn't done enough to get court-martialled over already today.

"What are you waiting for Alenko?" She muttered, vocalising something she hadn't strictly meant to.

"In the gym? Really?" He asked, opening his eyes and huffing out a laugh.

"I don't know, the bench isn't _that_ uncomfortable." She said, watching his gaze flick behind her and his pupils dilate at the thought her words had put in his head.

Reluctantly he stepped away from her and headed for the door. "At least find somewhere with a lock." He called over his shoulder before the doors could automatically open.

Shepard watched him walk away from her, threading her towel through her fingers in a rare show of nervous energy. Her window of opportunity was closing as soon as those damn doors did and she had to decide what to do about it.

"Kaidan!" She said, his name unfamiliar enough from her lips that it made him break his stride.

He turned in the doorway to look at her.

"My quarters have a lock." She said, brazenly careless about who might walk past.

"I would hope so." He said, saluting her with a cheeky smile. "I'll see you later, Commander."

As he disappeared out of her sight Shepard frowned, then chuckled to herself. And women were supposed to be the ones who were hard to read.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: From now on these ficlets will be based in and around the events of ME2. I've not actually finished it myself, so major spoilers are unlikely, but if you haven't even started I'd advise against reading further. 

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><p>Shepard stood outside the door to the main battery, contemplating if this was really such a good idea. Eventually she reasoned she'd stood there long enough for the crew members in the Mess to notice and decided to bite the bullet.<p>

The doors swished open in front of her and she stepped in to see her old friend turn and regard her curiously. "Garrus, can we talk?" She asked.

"Of course." He replied as he turned back to the display in front of her. "What's on your mind?"

Shepard walked over to lean on the railing and, once the doors had shut behind her, couldn't resist the urge to hang her head in defeat. She didn't notice Garrus looking at her with concern.

"He is a fool." The Turian sniffed, not looking up from his console.

She sighed. "No, he's not." She straightened and turned to face him side-on. "He's entirely justified in reacting the way he did."

"The man should be loyal to those who have proved themselves worthy. I don't like the thought of a Universe where that choice is the Alliance and not you."

"If none of this had happened, if he and I had stumbled across a meant-to-be-dead crewmember on a backwater planet I would have acted in exactly the same way."

Garrus growled. "No, you would not!" He said, turning to her fully. "You are many things, Shepard, but you are not cruel. What he said to you was designed purposely to hit you where you'd feel it most. He accused a good soldier of betraying the cause, and a good woman of betraying him."

Shepard felt the side of her mouth quirk up for the first time since she'd found herself back in Kaidan's arms a few short hours ago. "I could have said more to stop him."

"Now that I can't argue with." He said, almost smiling as he looked back down at his work.

Shepard sensed it was her time to leave, but she couldn't quite bring herself to stand upright again. "I told Kelly that I still love him."

"Just now?" Garrus asked and she nodded the affirmative. "Then you are a fool, also."

She snorted at this. "Am I really? Do tell why."

"Two reasons seem alarmingly obvious. One, that you still love him after he walked off and left you stranded, wounded after a battle. And two, that you shared a personal story with the biggest gossip on this damn ship."

Shepard grinned, standing up and placing a hand on his arm. "Thank you Garrus."

"For what?" He asked as she shook her head and walked to the door. "I told you the truth. He _is_ a fool. I would not have acted the same, given the opportunity."

Shepard kept walking, but his meaning piqued her curiosity. Interested, she intended to file that one away to contemplate later when with a jolt the feeling of muscled Human arms around her came back and shoved the thought right out of her head. She cursed, kicking the bulkhead as she passed. He'd left her behind but made sure she wouldn't forget him easily. If she ever saw him again her boot was going to be hitting something decidedly different to a part of her ship.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Time for Miranda to have her say! Next up, Kasumi. 

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><p>Shepard eventually decided to fetch something to eat, expecting the core crew to be long since asleep. She turned from gathering her meal and nearly had a heart attack at seeing Miranda seated at a table, staring at her.<p>

"I certainly hope you've let your guard down for some reason tonight and that the Collectors won't catch you out like that."

Shepard was sorely tempted to engage in an exchange of verbal banter with her but really, after the day she'd had she just wasn't in the mood.

"It's been a long day." She said instead, seating herself opposite Miranda.

"Yes, I thought there was something weighing on you when you came to see me earlier."

Shepard winced. "You're the fourth person today to bring that up. I used to pride myself on being unreadable."

"Love does funny things to us." Miranda offered, and when Shepard's head snapped up to fix her with an accusatory glance she raised an eyebrow. "What? Am I wrong?"

"I think it's none of your business." Shepard ground out.

"Right, but you'd tell Kelly?" Miranda shrugged. "Fine by me, I'm not going to force you. But if you think I wouldn't have noticed anyway you're deluding yourself. I don't think I've ever seen someone greet their 2IC quite like that before."

"Kai- Lieut- _Commander_ Alenko served under me on the first Normandy." Shepard said, stumbling over the reality of his rank rather than her memory of it.

"Hmm, I'll bet." Miranda teased.

Shepard fought to reconcile this potentially friendly confidante-type person with the cold bitch of a woman she'd first met. She was suddenly reminded a little of Ashley and a wave of fresh nausea filled her stomach. She sat back with a sigh and pushed her food away.

"He's a good man." She said finally, crossing her arms defensively in front of her.

"Oh sure, I can see that. He has a funny way of showing it though. You didn't deserve that." Miranda said, unconsciously mirroring Shepard's pose. When the other woman remained silent, she decided to take a flying leap into the unknown. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not particularly."

"Come _on_." Miranda prodded. "I've spilled all about Father. I'm not entirely sure how it happened but you know significantly more about me than I thought I knew about you. I think you owe me."

"I can owe you one thoroughly awkward girl talk, or I can owe you for helping me out of that godforsaken medical facility." Shepard offered. "One or the other, take your pick."

Miranda laughed. "Please, you think I'm still hung up on the latter of those two choices? That was just protecting the Illusive Man's investment, you don't owe me anything. I'll take one thoroughly awkward girl talk thank you."

Shepard sighed. She'd got herself into it here, should have known better. But then... a small part of her was secretly happy at having the chance to discuss something with the only woman on the ship who wasn't psychopathic, nymphomaniac or a some time drunkard.

"What do you want to know? A question which comes with a disclaimer, naturally." She settled on as a suitable response eventually.

"Naturally." Miranda agreed. "What is it?"

"I refuse to answer anything that could damage either of our reputations."

"Well as far as I'm concerned you can fire a missile into his reputation. He deserves no less." Miranda said.

Shepard sighed. "Stupid though it may be, I'm not going to risk alienating him. If we make it back from this damn mission, he could still be a useful contact."

"Sure, that's why." Miranda muttered. She unwound her arms slowly, reaching for her drink. "I think you're being too generous with him, and untruthful with yourself."

"Perhaps." Shepard allowed. "But that's my problem, not yours. Now, questions?"

Miranda leant forward over the table eagerly. "Is that backside as good out of armour as it is in it?" She asked.

Shepard laughed, despite herself. "Oh no. It's better."


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Little bit longer this time - it struck me that these two would have a fabulous connection if only we were able to talk to her in any detail. This is likely the last one I'll be putting up for ME2, I have one more in the works for Liara post-LotSB.

Thanks for reading, I appreciate it. 

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><p>Shepard made her way slowly into the observation room, taking in the woman sitting quietly on the sofa. She'd been to see Kasumi before - after the mission that had ended so tragically for her - but they hadn't really spoken about anything important. She figured it was time to change that.<p>

She sat herself down, facing the woman who had her knees drawn up to her chest. Neither of them spoke for a good few moments, before Shepard broke the silence with a sharp intake of breath.

"I can't say how sorry I am that you had to destroy your memories, Kasumi. I can't imagine having the moments I spent with someone I love lost from my head forever."

Kasumi nodded slowly, looking down at her pulled-up knees. "It is difficult. It can hit me at different times during my day. I can be eating a meal and remember that Keiji loved the food I'm eating. And yet, I can't remember any situations in which we ate it together."

Shepard reached out to place a hand on Kasumi's knee briefly. "I sometimes find myself wishing that love could be as simple as it is in those books of yours. First meeting, courtship, a simple misunderstanding easily solved... happily ever after."

Kasumi smiled. "I wouldn't have taken you for a reader, Shepard. Especially not of fiction. Large tomes of military strategy, perhaps."

"We all need our escapes. I tend to keep mine on my omni-tool, well hidden in sub-files. Helps maintain the mystery."

Kasumi stood to look out of the window at the stars rushing past. "You speak as if you have experience of my situation, yet there's not enough sadness in your eyes to suggest such a tragedy. Regret, perhaps." She turned to face Shepard. "Like you feel you've missed your chance."

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you're perceptive." Shepard said, smiling a little. She watched as Kasumi's eyes lit up at her lack of denial.

"So there is! You know, I heard rumours..." She said, bouncing on her heels before rushing over to sit back down. "Forgive my excitement, but... well, you know I'm a sucker for a good story."

"What rumours?" Shepard asked, relaxing against the back of the sofa.

"That you and a recently promoted Staff Commander fell in love on the original Normandy, starting an epic romance of the ages instrumental in the defeat of Saren."

"I wouldn't say 'instrumental'." Shepard protested, before wincing. She'd walked right into that one.

"So it's true! How exciting." Kasumi beamed.

"It's a little hard to classify it as an epic when one of the people involved is dead for two years before being revived by a terrorist organisation."

"Nonsense! That is just the, as you said earlier, 'simple misunderstanding'."

Shepard laughed. "Simple? I wish it were. Then perhaps it would have been easily solved."

"What happened?" Kasumi asked, watching as Shepard was silent for a moment, deep in thought. Eventually she sighed and shook her head, apparently resolved.

"We saw each other again on Horizon, one of the colonies attacked by the Collectors. He was less than pleased that I was with Cerberus."

"But he forgave you, of course?"

"Kasumi, is he here now?"

Kasumi's face fell. "He didn't leave you there? Oh no, that's not right at all!"

"Perhaps you should tell him that." Shepard said, getting up and walking to the bar. "That he's wrong because he went off-book."

Kasumi scooted to the edge of the sofa, placing her elbows on her knees and resting her head on her hands. "And you haven't heard from him since?"

Shepard couldn't hide the way her mouth quirked. "He sent me a message some time after. Apologising."

Kasumi's face lit up again. "See! Now that is promising indeed. What did he say?"

"That he was trying to get on with his life - he had gone out with a doctor on the Citadel - but that seeing me had taken him back to square one."

"The Citadel, you say?" Kasumi mused, a devious grin gracing her features.

"Kasumi. You're not going to kill her." Shepard warned, but there was amusement in her words.

"Come on, I could be in and out before anyone even knew!"

Shepard laughed properly now. "Because Kaidan would accept that she'd died in mysterious circumstances after being mentioned in a message to me as 'just one of those things'?"

"You visit him wearing the dress from the Hock job and I don't think he'll have too many complaints." Kasumi said. "He won't remember his own name, let alone hers."

Shepard rolled her eyes, but couldn't deny the little flash of excitement she felt at the thought of him seeing her in that dress. She _had_ looked pretty nice, if she did say so herself. Military girl scrubs up well.

"I should really be going." Shepard said, eyeing the alcohol within arm's reach. "Don't want to be inebriated when we go through the relay."

"You replied to his message, right?" Kasumi asked, just as Shepard was about to walk out of the door.

She turned guiltily on the spot. "Not exactly." Off Kasumi's growl of annoyance she threw her arms up into the air. "I didn't know what I could possibly say to make it better. I keep alternating between anger and despair and neither of those are ideal moods to write an email to your ex."

"Just tell him you love him." Kasumi shrugged. "Humans never do that enough. We're about to leave on what everyone tells me will be a suicide mission. There's a good chance we won't come back, and he deserves to know."

Shepard nodded. "I will. I'll do it now."

"Promise me." Kasumi said, suddenly more serious than Shepard had ever seen her before.

She didn't need to be a genius to work out that the other woman's resolution stemmed from feelings held deeper than concern over a friend's love life. "I promise, Kasumi."


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Final chapter folks! This one comes decidedly after Lair of the Shadow Broker AND Arrival, so spoilers if you haven't played either of those DLCs.

I'm ending this story here because I'm not quite confident enough to stray outside the realms of canon as yet. While I, like many of you, have my ideas and wishes of how ME3 will play out, none of them are well-formed enough for a fully-fledged story to form in my mind. That said, if any of you have prompts for characters/situations that I have missed, I would be more than happy to attempt them :)

Thank you all so much for the reviews/alerts. I appreciate it more than you know. 

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><p>"Liara! How have you been?" Shepard asked once her cabin doors had opened, stepping forward to embrace the woman.<p>

"I am well, thank you." Liara smiled when they parted. "How are you? I heard a story about a bar fight on Omega, though I'm certain that had nothing to do with you...?"

Shepard smirked. "Me? Would I punch a drunk Turian ranting about how humanity has ruined the universe?"

"You're lucky you have Aria on side, Shepard. She was only too willing to cover it up for you."

"Well I do seem to make a habit of having friends in high places. How's everything going?"

"Well, thank you. Feron is currently engaged in a battle of wills with the VI." Liara waved her hand and chuckled. "But it is of no matter now. I bought the police report from Omega, you have to see it. I think it will make you laugh."

The Asari produced an OSD seemingly out of nowhere and moved over to Shepard's private terminal before she could stop her. The minute she took a seat in the chair the picture frame flared to life.

"_Kaidan_." Liara breathed, reaching out for the frame. "Oh Kaidan. I didn't see you last time."

Shepard stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, surprised by her friend's reaction. She would have expected less of a reaction; Liara and Kaidan had never been particularly close while on board the first Normandy, for... obvious reasons. But then, who knew what had gone on between them when she'd been gone? For all she knew the two of them had found comfort in each other... which was a place she didn't want her mind to be going right now.

Shepard rubbed the back of her neck and shook her head in an attempt to clear the unwanted images. "Liara, do you know where I can find him? I've been looking but there's nothing."

"It's classified." Liara sighed, still looking down at the picture.

"Liara, I'm a Spectre. The word classified has as much meaning to me as..." She paused, looking for a suitable example. "Siha."

Liara's eyes widened. "Who is calling you Siha?"

"I have a drell on my crew too." Shepard said, coming to lean against the desk. "He still won't tell me what it means."

"It is a fitting term." Liara smiled. "But it is not my place to explain."

Shepard sighed. "Is there anything you _can_ tell me?"

"The last I heard of Kaidan was that the Alliance sent him to coordinate the GARDIAN calibration on Horizon." She said, watching as Shepard flinched slightly. "That is the limit of my knowledge. He is obviously very important to the cause, his files are locked up tighter than even yours."

"So he could be anywhere." Shepard stated quietly and then chuckled dryly, throwing her hands into the air. "I can't believe I know the Shadow Broker and I still can't find him!"

"What happened on Horizon, Shepard?" Liara asked, setting aside the picture and the OSD. "You don't have to tell me, but..."

"No, you should know. God knows everyone else does." Shepard stood. "Come sit with me and I'll explain."

It took Shepard a while to get the whole story out. She hadn't recounted the entire conversation out loud before, those she discussed it with had either been there on Horizon, or had got the abridged version at a later date. She made it through an entire glass of wine before she'd even got to him leaving her behind. Liara had listened better than she could have hoped for, just letting her talk and get it all out. Shepard had noticed her moods fluctuate as she spoke, going from guilt, to horror and anger. Mostly anger. At herself or at Kaidan, Shepard couldn't tell.

"I knew I should have told him about your body. I thought he would tell the Alliance but I should have known better than that." Liara sighed, sipping her drink. "He never quite believed you were gone, you know. Perhaps it's easier for him to believe you were never dead."

"I sometimes wish you had told him. I've raged about it often enough since I saw you last, that you kept that information to yourself when you could have helped the man I love."

Liara's head jerked up. "Present tense?"

Shepard nodded slowly. "Despite all my better judgment, yes."

"Interesting." Liara said quietly. "In that case I truly am sorry."

"No, don't be, please. After every session where I've beaten the hell out of my shower wall, I've realised that the information would have placed an incredible burden on him. Can you imagine if he'd known and it hadn't worked?"

Liara frowned as Shepard's breath hitched and her face fell. "Oh god. Oh _god_ Liara. What if it hadn't worked? I've been so focused on being angry that I haven't even thought about it!"

"You have every right to be angry!" Liara countered. "I made the decision to let Cerberus do what they would with you, you had no choice in the matter."

Shepard looked the closest to tears that Liara had ever seen her. "Something could happen to him now and he'd never know the truth..."

"Ssh, Shepard, it's okay." Liara said, moving fluidly to gather the other woman into a hug. "You'll find him, I just know it. Feron came back to me, Kaidan will come back to you. The universe owes you that much."

Shepard took a deep breath, nodding against Liara's shoulder. "You're right." She said, adding a very quiet '_you have to be_' afterwards.

"I am certain that, wherever he is, he will have heard of the Omega-4 relay opening. He'll know it was you, and he'll know you came back. It's not a stretch to imagine that he'll have been alerted to your upcoming trial either."

Shepard stiffened. "You mean the trial that I'm currently avoiding at all costs? I can't tell you the number of pointless missions I've dragged my crew to as some excuse not to go back."

"Go to Earth, face the trial. I have no doubt he'll be there for you, even if he claims to have a different purpose." Liara said as she sat back.

"You make it sound so easy." Shepard groused, running shaky hands through her hair.

"If I told you the truth, you would never leave this room again." Liara shrugged and then laughed at Shepard's scowl. "You know I am only joking. While there _is_ no easy route through the coming months, of course, the one I have suggested it as valid as any other."

Shepard nodded slowly. "Can I talk you into another drink?"

"I think perhaps I should be going. I'm not sure I trust Feron to be alone with the drone much longer than this."

The pair walked slowly to the door together and embraced for a final time before Liara wordlessly entered the elevator and disappeared out of sight.

Shepard sighed, leaning her head against the doorway. "Come back soon Liara."


End file.
